IRAN – Persepolis - Archaeologists have excavated pieces of a stone inscription belonged to an ancient Achaemenid emperors in Persepolis, Iran’s southern province of Fars. The inscription was unearthed at the Palace of Xerxes King (Khashayar Shah) reigned around 520 BCE, IRNA has reported. A team of experts is trying to attach the pieces together to decipher the text of inscription, said the team leader Professor Gian Pietro Basello of the University of Naples, Italy. Basello is a specialist in historical philology of Iranian languages of the "L’Orientale." He also claimed that he has found a few spelling mistakes in the inscriptions placed in the ruins of Persepolis. “The texts of the inscriptions were written by people with a high level of literacy, but the mistakes happened when the engravers cut the texts into the stones," said Basello’s colleague, Adriano V. Rossi, during a seminar held in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz. A new review of the royal Achaemenid inscriptions discovered in Persepolis was presented at the seminar. Established by Cyrus the Great, Achaemenid Empire was the first Persian Empire ruled in Western and Central Asia. One of the Achaemenid kings, Darius I (518 BCE), built Persepolis as the capital of the Empire. The importance and quality of the monumental ruins make it a unique archaeological site.

INDE – Hampi - Archaeology dept officials are 'renovating' the floor of 100x40 feet Purandara Mantap with slabs . At the place named and dedicated to legendary poet seer Purandaradasa in Hampi, the state archaeology officials are putting granite slabs in and around the heritage structure that dates back to the times of the Vijayanagar Empire. They are 'renovating' Purandara Mantap — a place where the poet's birth anniversary is observed every year. "It is a move towards modernising Hampi, which is a blow, as it is a place meant to be conserved," Dr D V Paramashiva Murthy, formerly head, department of epigraphy, Kannada University, Hampi told Bangalore Mirror. "Modern day bricks, granite slabs or construction materials are not allowed. Flooring with granite slabs is certainly neither restoration nor conservation." Granite slabs have been unloaded in front of the structure on the bank of Tungabhadra River to form the flooring for the 100x40 feet structure. "Dismantling is allowed as part of conservation, but not such granite flooring. This is the first time something like this is happening at Hampi. The officials have to stop this," Dr Vishwanath Malagi, a Kamalapur-based research scholar, said. Permission for such actions is mandatory from senior officials, but this has not come to their notice, sources said. "We are using these slabs for flooring inside and outside Purandara Mantap and the process has been approved after estimates were made. The flooring will be done using these slabs and the floor work will be over shortly," Doreraj, archaeological conservation assistant, state archaeology department, said. Dr Murthy rued that several heritage structures were being ruined like this. "Visitors are warned of prosecution if they mess with heritage structures. What should be done when the government officials themselves get into such acts?" he asked. He pointed out that floors at such heritage places are very important because they have many inscriptions and memorial sculptures, locally called Harake Shilpas. "These inscriptions are vital as they describe folk tales, offer information on historical personalities and practices during the period or related to the place. Such inscriptions can be found at every step in places like Nandi Hills, Kudala Sangama and almost all historical places in the state. Hampi is also a very important one. By covering such floors with granite or tiles, history is buried. With this, our future generations will never get to know the real history, and it will deprive researchers of an opportunity to study history," he contended.

PALESTINE – Battir - Israel's highest court is to decide whether the separation barrier should pass through a "unique" agricultural site that conservationists say represents a precious slice of cultural heritage. Its fertile red soil and contour-hugging terraces are largely unchanged since King Herod ruled, and the methods used to irrigate and farm it are little different, either. But now the fate of a 2,000-year-old site whose system of agriculture dates from when the Romans ruled the Holy Land is under threat - from Israel’s controversial separation barrier. The country’s defence ministry says it is essential to build the barrier across the ancient terraced landscape of Battir, a Palestinian village near Bethlehem, for security purposes - to make it impossible for would-be suicide bombers to enter Israel here. But opposing the plan is an unlikely coalition of Israeli environmentalists and conservationists alongside Palestinian villagers, all of whom argue that the project will inflict irreparable harm on a unique cultural heritage site and an ancient way of life.

G-B - Fred West - A body discovered inside a church memorial has astonished the world of archaeology and amazed experts. Sculpture conservator Michael Eastham had been working on the memorial in a Herefordshire church for nearly two years when he found a mysterious coffin jammed inside a tomb-chest It was first thought that the coffin had been hidden during the construction of the tomb in the late 14th century or possibly even added at a later date. However, it is now thought that it is almost certainly the coffin and remains of Blanche Mortimer, whose memorial it is, wife of Sir Peter Grandison and daughter of the 1st Earl of March, Roger Mortimer. The tomb is crowned by an effigy of Blanch Mortimer, which journalist Simon Jenkins has described as “an image as lovely as any bequeathed by a medieval church”. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, noted for his factual descriptions of the country’s churches and their artefacts, said of Blanche Mortimer: “The head is strikingly beautiful, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. Beautiful hands with long fingers…moreover the most surprising demonstration of realism in the way the train of her long skirt hangs down over the tomb-chest.” Until the discovery of the body, it was believed that memorials were built over or close to where the body had been buried under the floor of the church. Sometimes memorials were built or at least work started before the person had died. Blanche Mortimer was born around 1316 at Wigmore Castle in Herfordshire, the youngest and 11th child of Sir Roger Mortimer, Earl of March and Joan de Geneville, heiress of Trim & Ludlow. She became the wife of Peter de Grandison (who is buried in Hereford Cathedral) whom she predeceased in 1347. They had one son, Otto.

INDE – Yellampalli -The ancient ruins of an idol believed to be of Hoysala dynasty was unearthed during archaeological excavation that was undertaken by the department of archeology of Mulky Sundar Ram Shetty (MSRM) College, Shirva, near here at nearby Vishnumurti temple, Yellampalli, near here, stated Professor T Murugeshi, head of department of archaeology and history of MSRM College in their media release. The portions of both feet are found intact in a limestone measuring 24 centimeters and other portions are yet to be unearthed. On the basis of the art and sculpture, it was believed to be ruins of idols of either deities Janardhan or Chennakeshava of fourteenth century ruled by Hoysala dynasty, stated Professor Murugeshi.Professor Murugeshi further stated that archaeological significance of Yellampalli region, because Padoor Gururaj Bhat has already revealed there was a sacrificial altar in the region and it was a Buddhist centre during the reign of Shatavahana dynasty in second century BC. Meanwhile, B Vasant Shetty researched on stone inscriptions that was found nearby Vishnumurti temple, Yellampalli, near here that was belonged to Vijayanagar era, stated Professor Murugeshi.